Pool Practice: A Better Way to Train with the Control the Rock System

Are you bored with drills? Or maybe you want to know which drills you

should be shooting. Or maybe you just want to learn how to make

effective use of your limited practice time. Well, in this video, I’m

going to use my 40 years of pool experience to help you organize your

pool training. We’re going to apply modern sports training methods for

maximum effectiveness. I’ll describe my training framework, which is

three skill continuums, four practice structures, and four methods of

pool training. I’ll also touch on preparation, scheduling, and tracking.

And hidden within this video is going to be my two most critical tips

for effective pool training.

So grab your notebook and let’s get started. Let’s start at the

beginning, and let me play Captain Obvious for a second. You know, I can

remember back in 1980 when I started playing pool, and all I wanted to

be able to do was to draw the cue ball back the way I saw Steve Mizorek

do it on TV. I set this shot up and played it for days. I would hop the

cue ball off the table and miss the one ball and do the stop shot. It

took days until I was able to get any kind of consistency. It’s

something that I can do relatively easy today. What was I doing?

Repetition. At the base level, practice is just repetition. For some of

you, that’s enough and you don’t need to watch the rest of the video.

But I know most of you want to know more. You know, in the old days, an

old timer would say, Oh, you want to learn how to play pool? Well, hit

10,000 balls. That’s a form of repetition, but it’s the poorest way to

learn. Very inefficient and very limiting.

In order to maximize our training, we need to understand what to

practice and why. Now, it used to be said that practice, that is

repetition, would build muscle memory. Well, modern thinking kind of has

gone beyond that because first of all, the muscles don’t have memory,

the brain does. Second, the idea of muscle memory is kind of rigid. The

brain is very adaptable. When we practice, we’re building up myelin,

which is a kind of insulation around the nerves that activate the

muscles that we’re practicing, making them stronger and more efficient.

But practice builds neural pathways in the brain that controls those

nerves. Those pathways can grow and adapt to changes in our training.

Additionally, the brain’s ability to focus and concentrate, as well as

our attitude and our mental process, are all affected by our training.

I’ll talk more about that in a future video about learning spectrum. For

now, understand that simple repetition isn’t enough. We want to train

the right things in the right proportions while increasing the

difficulty level over time. And understand that our training affects our

physical and our mental processes, whether we’re aware of it or not.

Okay, who’s still with me? Critical tip number one is going to come up

right after this. We’re going to talk about continuums.

I want to show you three sliding scales. that help us classify skills

and how they should be trained. The environmental continuum runs from

closed to open. An open activity means the environment is constantly

changing, which determines the timing of your movements. A good example

would be basketball. In comparison, the environment for, let’s say,

archery is unchanging, and the timing of the shot is up to you, the

archer. With pool, the environment is fixed before the player shoots,

And the timing, except for shot clocks, is up to you, the shooter. So

pool is a very closed environmental skill.

The difficulty continuum goes from simple to complex. In this context,

difficulty refers to the number of subroutines that make up a movement.

Golf, for example, is a complex activity, while running is very simple.

You could make the case for pool having just four main subroutines. The

pre-shot, shot entry, warm-ups, and cue delivery. If we consider just

the actual cue stick delivery, I still place pool near the simple end of

the scale. The precision continuum describes muscle movements extending

from gross muscle movements on one end of the scale to precision or fine

motor skills on the other end. Playing the piano requires a high level

of precision in comparison to, for example, weightlifting, which is a

gross motor skill.

In this case, pool resides at the extreme end of fine motor skills.

There are more skill continuums in sports, but I think these three

exemplify the point of my number one critical tip. As pool is a closed,

simple, and fine skill, remember that all of your practice is directed

towards the goal of the best cue action possible. Sometimes we can start

to think of pool as an open or a complex skill when the balls are

rolling, but the movement of the balls is only the effect of the result

of our cue action. We don’t control the balls, we only control our minds

and our muscles to move the cue stick. When you’re practicing in

playing, whether you miss the shot or make the shot, the only thing that

matters is asking yourself this one question: How well did I move my

Q-tip? Real quick, before I get to the meat of this video about

practicing, I want to mention practice structures. Each type of practice

you undertake may be comprised of one or more of these practice

structures: fixed, variable, masked, or distributed.

Fixed practice structures are best suited to closed skills like pool.

The most common being drills where a shot or sequence of shots are

repeated over and over. Variable structures apply to open skills where

the environment is changing. But I think that pool practice involving

random distribution of the balls, like after a break shot, I think that

counts as a variable practice structure. Masked practice involves long

practice sessions without any rest, while distributed practice involves

breaks for rest and processing. I’ll talk more about masked versus

distributed practice structures in my upcoming video about learning

spectrums. But for now, know that your fixed or variable practice

sessions can each also be masked or distributed. As I talk about

practice methods, think about which practice structure applies most and

how the practice structure can be altered to keep your practice routines

interesting and challenging.

As I describe training methods, remember how practice continuums and

structures bring light to the following key points. First, you are never

just training a physical skill. You are always also training your mental

capacity to perform that skill consistently. Second, You are training

your mental ability to turn your focus or your concentration on and off.

A lazy approach will yield lazy results. This is because old neural

pathways in the brain that are not used are actually removed. Third,

stay positive and practice positive self-talk. Fourth, breathe.

And I’m not just talking about your lungs. Listen to what these

professional drummers have to say about the breath of physical motion.

So these were revelations to me to start thinking about not just the

hit, but the motions between. But if you’re not breathing, it’s not

alive. You know? So you got to at least put the breath in there, huh?

And finally, always keep your notepad open. Every time something

unexpected happens, it could be an opportunity.

After all, gains are made by practicing our weaknesses. Okay, on to the

meat of this video, practice methods. My critical tip number two will be

somewhere in this section, so pay attention. To extract more value from

your practice and improve faster, I suggest a hierarchy of methods,

types, routines, and workouts. Think about physical training in the gym.

Strength, cardio, and flexibility are all different methods of physical

training. Within the strength method, for example, you have barbells,

dumbbells, resistance bands, cable machines, et cetera. These are all

types of strength training.

For barbells, there are many routines, and each time you run a routine

during the day is a workout. Most pool players consider practice and

drills to be synonymous, so they divide pool into drills and playing

pool. In my opinion, however, drills are just one of four main methods

of pool practice. There’s drills, random, competition, and mental. Let’s

start with drills. If you’re expecting me to tell you what drills you

should be shooting, Pay attention because you will find the following

100 times more useful. Drills can be divided into four types: technique,

pattern, challenge, and game. Technique drills are for honing your

fundamentals.

You know, how you stand, how you grip the cue, how you follow through,

how you enter the shot, etc. The most famous technique drill is the

Mighty X, as invented by instructor Bert Kinnister. Some people think

this drill is about learning how to pocket long, straight-in shots.

That’s result-oriented thinking. The Mighty X is a tool for practicing

every single aspect of your fundamentals. Why is that? It’s because it

has no variables. The shot is always perfectly straight, and the best

cue ball always stays on that straight line.

So any deviation of either indicates something that needs attention.

It’s also about repetition. If you make a shot two or four times in a

row, you might start to think that you’ve mastered it. Sorry, cupcake,

but 15 balls, that’s an entire rack of balls, is the minimum to even

start thinking that you’re getting it. As a fixed practice structure,

repetition is the core of technique drills. You can also do a masked

structure, for example. How many balls out of 100 can I pocket? Or a

distributed structure where you stop and review your technique during

the routine.

So you’ll want a mirror and video camera ready. Yes, I consider training

in front of a mirror without shooting a ball to be a technique drill and

a very important one. The second type of drill is pattern drills.

Pattern drills are for practicing shot making and cue ball position. The

most famous pattern drill is the 15 ball L drill. There are hundreds

more. Pattern drills are often geometric patterns of balls, but can also

reflect game type situations where they must be played in numerical

order or with specific types of position. Serious players will find the

investment into an ICATS type of projector system invaluable for pattern

drill training.

Pattern drills are also a fixed structure and can be combined with

masked or distributed practice. Next are challenge drills. Challenge

drills require you to play the balls where they lie instead of an

initial set position, making them a variable practice structure. I love

Niels Fein’s crossover drill because it challenges your cue ball

direction and speed on longer distance shots. Challenge drills are

usually massed practice workouts. For example, my open rack challenge

routine, where you run a rack while calling the next shot before you

shoot, can be played to your chosen goal number of racks, or to just see

how many racks out of a certain number you can run. Again, it’s so easy

to become focused on results. But remember, those numbers are only an

indicator of how well you are executing your fundamentals.

As such, challenge drills are superior for training your fortitude.

Fortitude is the mental ability to approach every shot calmly and with

confident determination. And yes, that can be practiced. The game

practice type simulates games that you might play, but don’t confuse it

with the ghost. We’ll get to that in a minute. So I remember when I was

much younger, I would spend hours doing this, and I know that most of

you have as well. You just take the nine balls for nine ball, and you

just throw them out on the table like this, and you just kind of make

sure that there’s a good spread of balls, and every ball has a pocket,

and then you take ball in hand, and then you try and run the table. And

I would do that for hours on end, just throwing them out.

You could rack the balls and break them as well, makes no difference.

It’s a game simulation, but what it’s doing is it’s setting up random

sets of balls. And then in addition to that, you can practice your break

shot plus safeties, kicks, and jumps. And this is a drill, it’s not like

playing the ghost and it’s not like the random, practice method, which

I’m going to talk about next. The value of this type of practice is that

you end up with random situations, and you can play the opponent. So you

can play a safety and then attempt to kick at the ball or jump and get

out of the safety. And then you might have an instance like, oh, I don’t

know, maybe the two balls down table, and then you play a position shot

on the one, trying to get position on the two ball, and oops, you don’t

hit it hard enough, you end up here. So what are you gonna do?

What I used to do is I used to say, oh, if it was during a tournament, I

would’ve hit it right, and I’ll just do this, and then continue running.

Well, you haven’t learned anything if you do that. The other thing that

might happen is you might have a difficult shot. So you try and cut this

difficult shot, and you miss it. You’re like, oh, I would have made that

in tournament. And you put that ball in the pocket and continue

shooting. Again, you haven’t learned anything. But I’ll caution you

this.

What if you shoot that difficult shot and you miss it? And you say, oh,

darn, I missed that shot. So you set it up again. And you shoot it

again. And the second time that you shoot it, You make the shot and you

think, yeah, I got that shot. And then you continue on with your run.

Again, I’ll tell you, you haven’t learned anything. If you miss a shot

like that, you have to spend time practicing it.

And it’s the same thing in this other scenario. You shoot the one ball

and you get bad position on the two ball, okay? That’s going to happen.

during competition, during a tournament. What do you do? Well, you now

have an opportunity to practice the safety. Oh, I’m going to put the cue

ball behind the four ball. And so you’ll hit it, and oops, you don’t get

the cue ball behind the four ball, and you sell out.

Well, if you’re playing both opponents, you walk over, shoot the two

ball, and run out. Again, you haven’t learned anything. If this happens,

when this happens, set it back up, and figure out how to shoot this shot

from this exact angle so that you do get the safety behind the four

ball, okay? Now, when you’re shooting this type of game simulation

practice, you could shoot this once, once or twice, and experiment with

it, or get out your notepad and write it down. And then the next time

you’re doing a drill session, set aside a half hour to this type of

safety. How do I get the cue ball behind this ball? How do I get the cue

ball behind it if it’s here? How do I get the cue ball behind the four

ball if it’s here?

Is there a different safety? Maybe I want to thin the two ball and bring

the cue ball up table. But this type of practice, the purpose of it is

so that you can write down or discover your weaknesses so that you can

work on them. And then also to discover shots that you haven’t been

practicing in your drills. maybe a weird angle on a cut shot comes up

and that could inspire you. Oh, I could create a drill that has me shoot

that shot multiple times to play position and you can. your own pattern

or challenge drill to deal with that situation. And that’s how you

improve.

So you don’t want to take this casually. I know most players do because

it’s the most instinctual type of practice that we can think of. Just

throw the balls out and try and run them out. And that’s fine, depending

on your skill level and your goals. I invite you to take this much more

seriously. This is an opportunity to identify areas in your game that

you’re unaware of or that need work. If a difficult shot comes up that

you miss, if you feel like it, you might just say, okay, I had a thin

cut shot and I missed it, okay? I’m gonna pause the game simulation and

I’m now gonna spend 10 minutes on that shot that I missed.

And I’m gonna shoot this shot until I make it consistently every time

and play position the different areas of the table from that shot. And

then, I’m gonna set the shot up over on this side of the table and do

the same thing. 10 or 20 minutes until you own that shot. Then, spread

the balls out. and continue your simulated game practice. I didn’t

include this in other methods of practice. I include this in the drill

method of practice because you’ll identify things that you can create

drills to practice. So this reinforces the technique, pattern, and

challenge drills that we’ve already gone over.

It’s only going to take me a couple of minutes to describe the random

method of practice. This is specifically not included in drills because

it’s not as structured. This is your opportunity to really have fun.

What in the heck am I talking about? What do I mean by random? This

practice type is for experimenting and finding your limits. Let’s say

that in a normal game, you would cut this two ball in and you’d just

come one rail over here for position on the two ball, on the one ball,

let’s say. Okay, we’re not doing that.

We’re experimenting with How far will the cue ball travel straight back

and forth? Because I don’t know. I’m going to experiment and find the

limits of the shot and of my capabilities with the shot. So I’ll line up

to the shot as normal, but then I’m just gonna hit at break speed. Watch

what the cue ball does, experiment and learn. You notice there that the

cue ball came back from where the in this direction, then it went kind

of straight across the table, and then it came back this way. I wonder

why? Maybe you should experiment and find out why.

But this is about finding the limits of any individual shot, and it’s

about finding your limits. And you can just have fun with it and just go

crazy. Okay, can I make this five ball and do a power forward stroke?

Where’s the cue ball going to go? Well, how about if I hit it with

straight, maybe a little bit of left, or how about with a little bit of

right? How about this three ball? Can I draw the three ball inside of

the 11 and spin it around to the six? Nope, I can’t.

I’m experimenting. So now I found out at that speed, I’m not going to

get the cue ball to draw, it’s going to deflect before drawing. Okay,

so, and go ahead and put a lot of spin on the shots. What happens if I

shoot this 11 ball with extreme left English? Oh, I missed you. I’m

experimenting. I’m finding my limits. This is an opportunity to have

fun.

You don’t want to do this for hours on end. It’s a way to discover

things that maybe you’ll take to the drill methods when you’re working

on those, but you really want to take some time at least once a week, if

not more, and just find the limits of any shot and the limits of what

you’re capable of doing. So set up a shot. Normally, I’d shoot this one

in the side. How about if I shoot it in the corner? Where does the cue

ball go? Can I use inside English? Just hit it hard.

Use maximum spin. Experiment and have fun. Same shot. What happens if I

use left English? Okay. And then how about this? We know that if we

practice a shot like this in our drills, we’re going to hit it with a

lot of control and a lot of purpose to try and hit it straight down that

rail and nice and cleanly. Okay.

In the random section, can I let’s see, what happens if I put maximum

draw and spin? Okay, that’s what happens. Oh, look, I almost made a

double bank. So you can have a lot of fun with this and experiment. And

then that shots back up. Okay, I missed the ball. So at that, when

you’re hitting it really hard, maybe I’m getting a different kind of

deflection and I need to adjust for that. Okay, let’s try it again then

and aim just a little bit farther out.

And then maybe we can make it. I wasn’t able to, I didn’t draw the ball

very well that time. So let’s make sure that I’m cueing the the cue ball

low and see if I can get maximum draw on it. So this is your opportunity

to let your stroke out, just experiment and have fun. I have my critical

tip number two, and congratulations if you made it this far in this

video. I’ll try to keep this brief. Let me ask you a question. Why do

you want to practice?

Well, I want to learn how to play better. Okay. Why do you want to learn

how to play better? So I can win more often. Oh, okay. Why do you want

to win? Well, isn’t that the point of the game? To win the game?

I’m going to invite you to think about that question. Is that the point

of the game? To win? There’s two opponents in every game, and by

definition, one of them will lose every single time. Think about a

tournament with 64 players, 64 player tournament. 63 of them will lose.

You ever thought about that? Is winning the goal?

It’s very cliche to say, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the

journey. When you win a tournament, you’re gonna feel great. You’re

gonna get glory, you might win some money, you’re gonna go out with your

friends and celebrate and have fun, and those are wonderful things.

Don’t mistake those for happiness. Those are joy. That’s a good thing.

But don’t think that getting better at pool, winning more matches on

your league night, is going to bring you happiness. It’s not.

You need to find happiness in the journey. Think about your entire pool

career. You’re gonna win some tournaments, you’re gonna win some

matches, you’re gonna have your share of victories, whatever that means

to you. And those are gonna be great. But the ultimate goal that’s gonna

bring you happiness is that out of anything you could choose to do in

life, you get to play pool. That’s a wonderful thing. And if you apply

yourself and practice, you’re gonna get better. And that’s a wonderful

thing.

That’s where you need to derive your happiness from. Don’t make winning

any particular event your goal, because you can’t control the outcome.

That’s result-oriented thinking. You want to be process-oriented

thinking. And that is the same for your practice sessions. When we go

and practice, we tend to get really serious. Oh, I’m going to practice

hard today. I want to put in a good practice session.

And that’s all well and good. But you don’t want to make your practice

sessions stressful because then you’re going to take that attitude to

the tournament. You can’t play your best under stress. You need to play

with joy, knowing that you get to play. Bring that attitude to your

practice sessions, and you’re going to see improvement come much faster

and translate from the practice session to the tournament room much

easier. The competition method includes the ghost and Seth. I know many

of my viewers know the ghost, but for those who don’t, and to be

complete, here’s a quick explanation. The ghost is the perfect opponent.

She never misses and always runs out. Playing the ghost means you break

every rack in a race of nine ball or 10 ball or eight ball, and then you

take ball in hand after the break shot. If you run out, you win. If you

don’t run out, the ghost wins, and that’s it. As such, playing the ghost

isn’t a practice type per se. You can still make noted mistakes to work

on later, but as a game simulation, you don’t get any mulligans. Also,

there is no safety play, so it’s not a perfect game simulation, but it’s

more a test of your skills and your fortitude. An easier rule set for

playing the ghost allows you to attempt to run out even if you don’t

make a ball on the break or scratch on the break.

A pro level rule set does not allow you to take ball in hand. The other

competition practice type is to play sets against a live opponent. Now,

whether you play on your home table for pride or at the pool hall for a

few bucks, the value you derive from friendly sets is in direct

proportion to the mindset that you bring with you. Mental training is

one of the four main methods of practice. I’ll make a separate video

exploring mental training in more detail. But understand that mental

training is visualization. That means sitting or lying down comfortably

and visualizing yourself playing pool. Well, this is a real science, and

it’s widely used, for example, by aspiring musicians.

The more you do mental imaging practice, the better you get at it. This

is because it actually activates the muscles you use when you play pool.

You want to visualize as many of your senses as you can. See what the

shot looks, sounds, and feels like. turns out that the dude’s ideas

aren’t so nutty after all. He’s listening for strikes. You need to

listen for the sound of the object ball hitting the back of the pocket,

the cue ball rolling along the cloth and going exactly where you want.

You can visualize yourself playing pool well from an observer’s point of

view or from your own point of view down on the shot.

What’s more? A technique called AOMI, that’s Action, Observation, and

Motor Imagery, is showing positive results. With AOMI, you watch a pro

playing and gently mimic their movements and timing. You can also

practice AOMI with your eyes closed while visualizing the pro playing

perfectly. I used to look at a drawing of a nine-ball runout, then I

would close my eyes and see myself completing the run. Believe it or

not, when you first try this, you are going to actually miss shots and

mess up position in your mind. But learning to visualize yourself

successfully and professionally running out actually improves your

mental fortitude when you are playing or practicing pool for real. Okay,

I have to mention scheduling, preparation, and tracking.

Though these could be a full-length video on their own. Your training

schedule will include how often you practice as well as what you intend

to practice. The loftier your goals, the more detailed your schedule

will be. Keep your schedule handy so you can update it whenever you

discover something new to work on. During a typical practice period,

that’s about one week for most people, your schedule should include

workouts from all four drill methods plus the other methods. Beginners

will include a much higher percentage of technique drills, while more

advanced players will spend more time on pattern and challenge drills.

But technique drills remain a requirement to stay on top of your game,

even for the top pros. Set the tone of your workout by beginning with

some stretching and positive self-talk.

You want to signal your subconscious that this workout is important. and

you are about to exercise your mind’s ability to focus. I like how Kevin

Costner represented this idea in one of his movies. Clear the mechanism.

Hello, Mike. Tracking your progress in training has never been easier.

Everybody’s got a cell phone, which means you’ve got a camera and a

video camera with you at all times. Get yourself one of these little

mini tripods.

You can set up all kinds of camera angles to record. My home table here,

I have the camera that you’re watching me on now. Overhead camera over

the center of the table that looks straight down, so you can use that to

check your alignment. But I also have a tripod, and I’ve got one of

these little extension arms, so I’ve got a cell phone holder here. So I

can set up all kinds of camera angles from down low, from the side. I

can go overhead for checking, again, for checking the alignment, things

like that. So not only checking your progress, but checking your

technique as you perform your drills. The length that you get into that

is going to depend entirely on your skill level and your goals.

But I think everyone should have a little log for writing down your

performance during your practice sessions. daily basis. This is the one

that I’m working on right now. I’ve got a whole bunch of these that have

been filled up. Next, I recommend pool table layouts. I made these pads

of paper with a drawing of a pool table on it many years ago. When I’m

at a pool tournament, I will draw a run up of a player that I thought

was interesting or educational at a shot that I want to try later when I

get home. Well, then this can get incorporated into my practice session.

a section with nothing but drills. I’ve got them all stored on pads in

one location. But you don’t need to have pen and paper to do that

anymore. For example, there are a lot of applications like this one by

the WPA where you can create your table diagrams on your cell phone. And

finally, in addition to table layouts and a log, I recommend that

everyone have a pool journal. The journal, rather than a log, is where

you can write down anything that you’re thinking and feeling about pool.

Track your tournament statistics, that’s what I’ve got going on in the

back here. You can write down quotes that you want to remember and write

down your feelings about different tournaments, events, players.

Write down shots that you want to practice, anything under the sun. This

is a private log for you. look at it. It’s something that you don’t show

your instructor or anyone else, but it gives you an opportunity to get

everything that’s from your brain down on paper and review it later.

You’re going to find it really helpful in focusing your progress as you

work towards your goals. Remember that every practice routine has

different difficulty levels. Your ability to master a more difficult

level of a practice routine depends on how well you mastered the easier

level of that routine. So don’t get ahead of yourself.

It takes a long time to develop your skills to their full potential. If

you like this video, you’re going to really like my how to practice

video, the number one that I made a couple of years ago. I’m going to

leave you with a couple of quotes that are my favorites having to do

with pool train. Most pool players first learn how to aim and pocket

balls, and then they move on to their favorite game or drills. But if

that’s you, I think you’re missing a step. You see, many drills require

more than one shot type and playing position in multiple ways. So you

end up overreaching without even knowing it. In my Control the Rock

video, I described five shot types: a frozen ball, a rail shot, a cut

shot, a bounce shot, and a wing shot.

By the end of this video, you will know what makes a wing shot unique,

how to practice them, and everything that is possible from a wing shot.

Don’t skip ahead because along the way, there’s several pool tips that

you don’t want to miss. In my opinion, you’ll learn faster and develop a

broader skill set by first learning what each shot type most easily

affords and then progressing to the limits of that shot type. All the

while, improving your aim and pocketing of that shot. Okay, so what is a

wing shot? Well, these are the five shot types that I invented, and I go

over this in more detail in my video called Control the Rock. But

basically there’s balls that are frozen to the rail, rail shots, and cut

shots. And then, anytime there’s a ball along the rail, if your cue ball

is on this side of the shot line, then your cue ball’s gonna go to the

rail and bounce off the rail.

So that’s a bounce shot. But if your cue ball is on this side of the

shot line, then your cue ball is gonna go to the opposite long rail. So

that is the wing shot. So we divide up our training among these five

shot types because we can identify these shot types no matter where the

object ball is located in any quadrant on the table. And then the other

reason why we divide them in these five types is because the positional

routes that the cue ball takes from each of these shots is different.

Which brings me to the first pool tip. I always tell my students, I

cannot teach you how to play pool. Huh?

What? What are you talking about? No. What I can do is I can teach you

how to teach yourself to play pool. I can show you what to practice and

why. But you have to go to the table and don’t be afraid to experiment

and then repeat the things that work. That’s how you’re going to learn.

I’ve got an overhead camera looking down in this wing shot.

We’ll take a look at that close up in just a moment. First, remember

that from the Control the Rock video? Outside angles are when the cue

ball is closer to straight in, and so the object ball has most of the

energy after the collision. Inside angles is when there is a sharper

angle, and so the cue ball retains most of the energy after the

collision. So let’s use my ghost aimer. We’re going to take a closer

look at those angles. So I’m going to place the arrow on the ghost aimer

so it points through the object ball at the pocket. Then we can see the

angles 30 and 60 degrees on the GoSteamer.

We’re looking for 33 and 45 because a rolling cue ball that’s anywhere

from to 33 degrees will leave the collision with the object ball with

less energy. Over 33 degrees, a rolling cue ball leaves the collision

with more energy. For a sliding cue ball, it’s 45. So when the cue

ball’s sliding from 0 to 45, the cue ball will leave the collision with

less energy. Over 45, the cue ball will leave the collision with more

energy. When playing, we don’t get to measure the angle of the cutshot

with a compass or a ghost aimer before we shoot. Rather, understanding

the physics of spheres helps you calibrate your speed control when

you’re practicing. We don’t need to measure the angle of the shot to the

two decimal points in order for it to be useful, as we’ll see a little

bit later.

Here’s a quick physics lesson. Have you ever done this? That miss could

have been caused by improper aim or maybe a defect in your stroke. But

the real cause is more likely to be throw that you didn’t account for.

Here’s a wing shot captured in super slow motion. But wait a minute,

there’s two object balls. What’s going on? Well, if we go back here and

take a look.

This is two shots laid over the top of each other. The object ball is in

the identical location, and the cue ball strikes the object ball in

exactly the same spot. When we let the object balls roll, we can see

that the object ball that gets to the pocket first was struck harder,

and it strikes the rail and rattles, but the other ball misses the point

and goes in the pocket. When the cue ball is struck with a soft to

medium speed, friction throws the object ball towards the cue ball’s

direction just a bit. But when struck hard, the contact time is shorter,

meaning there’s less friction and less throw. So the same contact point

at higher speed will cut the ball a little bit more, causing the miss.

Which brings me to pool tip number two. Whether you’re practicing

aiming, practicing cue ball control, practicing a drill, the result of

every single shot is a measure of the quality of your shot execution.

It’s really easy to examine only the result of a shot. I missed,

therefore I didn’t aim correctly. No. Did you stay down? Did you pause

before your final stroke? Was your stance balanced? Was your vision

center over the cue stick? Was your backstroke rushed?

Was your grip loose? Players who put process over the results advance

faster and farther. We just saw throw up close. Here’s a close-up look

at how side spin affects your aim point. I placed the cue ball and

object ball on these donuts and pocketed the ball in the center of the

pocket with left side spin, center, and right side spin. This is the

moment of cue ball contact. You can see that the eight ball is in the

same location for each shot. My aim was maybe 1/8 of an inch to the

right with left side spin, and about 1/8 of an inch left with right side

spin.

So when we practice, there are three variables. Throw, which changes

with the speed of the shot, side spin, and pocket location. whether the

object ball enters the center, the left, or the right side of the

pocket. As a side note, this is why aiming systems are a waste of time.

You will learn over time how to automatically adjust for all three of

these variables by practicing positional routes from each of the shot

types like we are going to do right now. First, I have to give a quick

mention to cue ball control principles that I’ll probably be mentioning

during this demonstration. A slow backstroke is a requirement for

maximum efficiency, accuracy, and control. Vary your bridge length and

your grip location appropriate to shot speed.

Shooting at the bottom of the cue ball slows it down after object ball

contact, and draw and follow, curve the cue ball after object ball

contact before it begins straight line travel. For the rest of this

video, I will be demonstrating shots at the table. I’ve got a wing shot

object ball position marked, as well as cue ball positions for thick,

outside, and inside angles. Your experimentation is gonna be a spectrum

of increasing complexity over time as you practice. And that spectrum

involves contacting increasing numbers of rails and playing position to

different quadrants on the pool table. We’ll start with zero rails.

First is what I call holding the cue ball. The stop shot is the ultimate

hold.

The cue ball goes nowhere, but you have to be straight in for that. For

angles up to 10 degrees or so, a few techniques help keep the cue ball

from traveling much. We’ve already mentioned cheating the pocket.

Remember that backspin slows the cue ball down. Side spin allows a

fuller hit, so the cue ball retains less energy. And finally, a dead

weight stroke means using the minimal amount of Q-tip speed to get the

object ball comfortably to the pocket. Increase the cut angle with each

technique as you practice to become familiar with what is possible. The

next step is zero rails position, which will solidify your feel for

roll, slide, and spin, and manipulating the tangent line.

These demonstrations are from the outside angle cue ball spot. We want

the cue ball to travel toward, but not touch, the opposite side rail.

The green arrow is the shot line, the yellow arrow is the 90 degree

tangent line. First, my Q-tip is just below center. Why didn’t the cue

ball follow the tangent line? The slow-motion video shows the cue ball

sliding at first, but beginning to roll before object-ball contact due

to the slow shot speed. Next, my Q-tip is just above center. Slow motion

shows the cue ball rolling right after leaving the Q-tip, and it

perfectly follows the 30-degree path of a rolling cue ball.

The low center ends with the cue ball behind the 90-degree path. Notice

the cue ball curves for a few inches before it starts traveling

straight. Draw with side spin doesn’t travel nearly as far at the same

speed due to the fuller hit. And finally, at a 45 degree angle, it’s

nearly impossible to not hit the opposite side rail, even with side

spin. These are just a few examples. Experiment with Q-tip position and

speed of stroke to see how well you can control the cue ball along all

three paths without striking the opposite side rail. Okay, I’m done with

all the technicalities. I’m going to demonstrate now about 40 cue ball

paths from this one shot where the cue ball is contacting one or more

rails.

I’m not going to get too deep into the precise cue-tip position on every

shot. That’s not the point here. The point is you need to take this

information and experiment. My job is to demonstrate what is possible

and give you some bit of explanation of the physics involved. Your job

is to experiment. Don’t be afraid to experiment. It’s the best way to

learn. In that way, you’re going to discover what for you is a high

percentage shot versus something that’s more difficult.

And that’s how you’re going to learn what you need to work on. Your

other job is to have fun. And this is just one wing shot. During your

practice, you will extrapolate the principles that I demonstrate to

other cue ball angles, other object ball positions, and then, of course,

putting the cue ball at different distances from the object ball. Now, I

could organize these shots either by the number of rails contacted, the

cue ball destination quadrant, or tangent line deviation. I think

tangent line deviation is best because you’ll see the cue ball path at

different speeds from similar Q-tip positions. So the four paths are the

90-degree tangent line, forward of the 90-degree tangent line, a slight

draw that’s coming back from the 90-degree tangent line, and then

extreme draw. We’ll start with the 90-degree tangent line.

Don’t be afraid to use the back arrow on your keyboard to replay shots

as needed. First, the cue ball follows the 90-degree tangent line with

the center ball hit. You may have seen a tiny bit of contact-induced

spin on that shot. Next, a slightly below center hit brings the cue ball

above the 90-degree tangent line. You can definitely see some

contact-induced spin on this one. Next is the same shot with some

outside English applied and you can see a difference in the rebound

angle. The first three were struck with speed to send the cue ball to

the rail and off. Now try adding a little bit more speed to bring the

cue ball back to center table.

Next is a stun stroke that’s center ball with more speed. You can

definitely see the contact induced spin changing the rebound angle off

the rail. This is a stun stroke with a little bit of outside spin and

enough speed to come back across table. Next, let’s hit the stun shot

with enough speed to bring the cue ball all the way back across and

contact the second rail. And that’s just contact induced spin only. And

then this one I’m adding a little bit of outside spin. You can see it’s

spinning more and it came up just a bit higher and spun to the left off

the second rail. And then I add a lot of side spin at about the same

speed.

Look at the reaction of the cue ball. That outside spin is reverse

English due to the entry angle of the cue ball into the rail. So you’re

not going to see the cue ball come up much higher. So here I’m striking

the cue ball just a bit lower, and it’s still a reverse English angle

off of that rail. Next, watch the back spin curve the cue ball as I hit

it a little bit lower, but in the center, and that contact induced spin

is enough to bring the cue ball up a little bit. And then the same shot

with the left spin, because the cue ball entry angle into the rail is

almost perpendicular, that left spin really brings the cue ball up

higher. Let’s move on to the forward shots. This is just above center

with no side spin.

We want to contact at least the side rail. Compare the cue ball’s path

to this shot with inside spin. I think that I hit this one a little bit

lower on the cue ball. And for comparison, here’s the same shot without

the side spin. Watch the cue ball curve when I hit it a little bit

higher, but with some speed. It follows the 90-degree tangent line

before the top spin curves the cue ball. When I try to do the same thing

with inside spin, the thinner hit leads to a scratch. But if I add some

speed with the same hit, the cue ball stays on that tangent line just a

little longer and avoids the scratch.

If you have to hit it softer, lower your Q-tip so it’s more of a stun

shot and get that cue ball to the side rail and avoid the scratch. Using

the same hit but more speed, we can bring the cue ball around three

rails, but keep it down on this end of the table. Raise your Q-tip up

with more speed to strike the side rail lower and bring the cue ball

around on a little bit longer path. With no side spin and a lot of

topspin, you can get the cue ball to take a longer path, but the travel

distance won’t be as long without that side spin. Let’s add some side

spin with that higher Q-tip position. We can get the cue ball to go

longer around the table, but still short of that corner pocket. And

finally, with more side spin than top spin, that running English can get

that cue ball to the long side of that corner pocket. And now the draw

shots.

Watch the cue ball curve here. That’s at least one Q-tip below center

and just hard enough to get to the opposite side rail. Let’s address the

cue ball not quite so low and maybe a little bit of outside spin and

just a speed to come a diamond or so off the rail. And with lots of

spin, it’s possible to really turn that cue ball off the rail up table,

yet keep it on that opposite side of the table. And then the same shot

with just a little bit more speed. We can come past center table, but

the cue ball comes on a little bit shallower angle. And then a little

more speed and a touch less spin, we can bring the cue ball across table

and up table with only touching one rail. Whereas with the same speed

but less side spin, the cue ball comes directly across the table and

contacts 2 rails.

And then the extension of shot 28, more speed. Don’t try to draw the cue

ball too much. Just let the spin. Bring the cue ball up table 2 rails.

And now the big stroke shots. Watch the cue ball curve. That’s maximum

draw and side spin. Here’s a tricky one.

If you need the cue ball to go 2 rails back and forth across table, but

not go too far up table, you’ve got to hit it really hard. Withdraw so

the cue ball stays on the tangent line and then pulls back above. And

then the extension of that shot is to add some side spin. Then you can

pull the cue ball all the way up table and I can get position on that

nine ball up on the head rail. Cueing all the way at the bottom of the

cue ball with a soft stroke, it is possible to pull the cue ball above

the side pocket. You can pull the cue ball up a little bit farther by

using outside English for a fuller hit, but you can’t hit it too hard or

the cue ball won’t curve soon enough to beat the scratch. And those are

wing shots. At the start of this video, I mentioned that you’ll learn

how to practice your wing shots.

Well, in one sense, you just did. Experiment. It’s free. Aside from

that, don’t wait for someone to tell you what to shoot. As you practice,

you’re going to learn where your weaknesses are. Invent a challenge to

practice those weaknesses. For example, let’s say you’re having trouble

with your wing shots and bringing the cue ball across table to a

specific part of the rail. Well, take some object balls, put them on the

diamonds or wherever you like, Now shoot this wing shot and challenge

yourself to bring the cue ball across table and back and strike this

object ball, then come back and hit this one, then hit this one, and

then hit this one.

There’s a nice challenge drill for you. It’s really going to get you in

tune with your Q-tip position and your spins in order to control the cue

ball. Let’s say you’re having trouble doing the same thing with spin

shots or draw shots and bringing the cue ball up table, playing for a

position for a ball that’s over here. Well, do the same thing. Put some

object balls along this rail, shoot the wing shot, challenge yourself to

bring the cue ball to each of these positions by having your cue ball

come up here and hit one of those balls. There’s a good challenge drill.

Another one that’s real powerful is, let’s say you’re playing position

to a ball that’s on the bottom rail. Set up obstacle balls.

So if I have an obstacle ball, a couple obstacle balls here, I’m going

to need to go across table and spin down to get position on that ball.

Set up a drill where you do that. Perhaps your obstacle balls are here.

Well, now I need to let the cue ball go down on this angle and then

bring it straight back across to get position on this ball. So you can

come up with all kinds of scenarios where you can challenge yourself.

Probably the biggest one is learning to compensate for throw and spin

when you’re shooting your wing shots. You know, maybe you rattle the

ball too much by hitting the facing when you’re going in. So what you

can do there perhaps is set up a row of wing shots.

Now your challenge is to give yourself a parallel angle and pocket each

one in a row without missing. You could even add one closer to the rail.

That’s still a wing shot when your cue ball’s here. So now your

challenge is to make each one of these balls and send the cue ball over

here so it contacts the rail and just comes off in a row. And then you

can do that drill from a close distance. Then back the cue ball up. When

you’re successful there, back the cue ball up farther. There you go.

So you don’t need to pull a drill from a book. Challenge yourself based

on what your weaknesses are and create a drill to practice that. I think

this experimentation phase of practice is really important work to put

in before you begin to challenge yourself with drills that require

multiple types of shots and position routes per drill. Let’s review what

we went through in this video. We talked about shot types, and this

one’s about the wing shot. We talked about inside and outside angles,

and it’s important to differentiate those. because it affects the speed

of the cue ball. We talked about the three aim point variables, throw,

side spin, which includes deflection, and whether you’re aiming at the

left center or right of the pocket.

We then talked about hold shots, where the cue ball doesn’t touch a

rail. And then I gave 36 examples of using your rail on different

positional routes. Ones that begin along the 90 degree tangent line,

shots where the cue ball goes forward, shots where it comes back with a

draw stroke, and then extreme draw stroke shots. My next shot type video

will cover one of the four remaining shot types. Cut shots, bounce

shots, rail shots, and frozen other rail shots. Leave a comment in the

comment section which one you want to see first. I hope you got a lot

out of this wing shots video and that it gives you a lot of ideas of

ways to practice and get better at pool. Let me know what your favorite

part of the video is and anything that you have to add in the comment

section.

If you’re interested in more on that, if you haven’t seen my video yet,

I’ll put a link to it somewhere. My how to practice video explains

different types of practice and different types of drills. Play it

straight and see you next time on Shots Up on Pool. Bye.